Harrison survived an overtime scare from North Farmington in girls basketball Wednesday and held on for a 56-52 victory.

The Hawks will play Farmington Hills Mercy at 7 p.m. Friday in the Class A district tournament final at West Bloomfield.

Harrison, had a 42-27 lead early in the fourth quarter, but North went on a 16-2 run and cut the deficit to one with less than a minute to play, 44-43.

Following Nyla Warren’s layup at 5:44 in the fourth, the Hawks didn’t score again for nearly five minutes.

The Hawks (15-6) did a lot of dribbling and seemed content to play a delay game and try to run out the clock.

“We got kind of passive, and we’re not good at playing passive,” Harrison coach Stefon Wilson said. “We like to push the tempo and play with pace.

“For some reason, we went into keep-away mode. That’s just not our strength. But it was a good game, and I’m glad we’re playing on Friday.”

Harrison made just two of five free throws and was clinging to a 46-44 lead with 15 seconds remaining.

North’s Kelly Lusk got the ball up the floor and lofted a pass into the lane as Alexa Cherney was going to the hoop. Cherney laid the ball in the basket with 2.5 on the clock to force the game into overtime.

“It’s a senior down the middle,” North coach Jeff Simpson said of Cherney. “The kids trusted each other and got to their spots. Without any diagram or anything, they just did what they were taught to do.”

“We rode that momentum in the first part of overtime, but then (the Hawks) responded. To their credit, they hung on and won.”

Harrison’s Teddi Pickens sank a 3-point shot with 43 seconds left in the overtime to break a 50-all tie.

Sam Cherney’s putback basket kept North within one, but the Raiders (15-7) made consecutive turnovers and were forced to foul.

Pickens sank one free throw and Warren two in the final 22 seconds to clinch the win for Harrison.

“I liked the grit we showed in overtime, but you have to tip your hat to North Farmington; they didn’t quit,” Wilson said.

The Raiders, who lost to the Hawks by 16 points in December, made seven of 11 field goals in the fourth quarter and were 10-of-17 with the overtime included.

“We just didn’t make plays the way we did to end the fourth quarter,” Simpson said. “We made every play we could at the end of the fourth quarter to rally, and we just came up short in the overtime.

“I told the girls: ‘I’m a very proud coach.’ We got down against a very good team. They just listened and were coachable; they executed and put the pressure on them. We kept making good decisions and we finished. It was a great comeback.”

Wilson said he thought his players started looking at the clock in the fourth quarter and thought they should slow the game down.

“We have to have the game go up and down, because we’re small,” he said. “If it’s a half-court game, you just have to face it; you’re not going to get rebounds. We definitely want to keep the pace up and take the layups.”

Kierra Crockett had 14 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter and overtime for North. She was 6-of-8 from the floor during those 12 minutes.

Sam Cherney scored 14 points and had more rebounds than that. Alexa Cherney added six points.

Statistically, the difference was Harrison’s four threes; North had none. Each team made 21 field goals and was 10-of-23 at the foul line.

The Hawks attempted 11 more field goals, 64-53, and shot 33 percent; the Raiders made 40 percent of their shots.

“Our girls have come a long way since then,” Simpson said of the Decmeber loss. “We’re a different team now and, hopefully, we’ll continue building on that going into next year.”